They did try to jack the interest rates (full disclosure: I'm British and I had a bank account at the time :) -- the base rate rocketed by roughly 1% one day, t

They did try to jack the interest rates (full disclosure: I'm British and I had a bank account at the time :) -- the base rate rocketed by roughly 1% one day, then 2% the next. Then they chickened out and pulled the eject handle on the ERM, and cut the base rate back to where it had been before Soros' assault. That was the moment when it became obvious that the next government would be a Labour one. (And the reason Labour instantly hived the BoE off as an autonomous entity.)